Trail Blazers hold off Rockets thanks to Aldridge’s 30-25 game

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PORTLAND, Ore. – As LaMarcus Aldridge made his way to the Trail Blazers locker room at halftime, he had made just 3 of 10 shots and the NBA’s best offensive team had crashed with him. But there was something about that half that might have offered a clue about what Aldridge had in store for the Rockets.

The seven shots Aldridge missed, even in what has been the best offensive season of Aldridge’s career, did not stand out as much as the three he made. They were likely the toughest, most tightly-contested shots he had taken. They were also indicative of what was to come.

Eventually, either the league’s best offensive team or its second-best offensive team would take off. When Aldridge began to roll, the Rockets never could stop him until he had a career night and the Blazers had pulled away down the stretch, knocking off the Rockets, 111-104.

Aldridge scored 23 of his 31 points in the second half, when he grabbed 15 of his career-high 25 rebounds. It was the first game with 30 points and 25 rebounds in the NBA since Kevin Love did it in November, 2010, the first ever for the Trail Blazers. It was also more than the Rockets could handle, even with Dwight Howard scoring 32 points on the other end.

“He’s a load, he’s a load,” Rockets assistant coach Kelvin Sampson said. “I don’t think I can remember seeing someone who takes so many hard, contested, foul-away jump shots and consistently makes them. He’s really, really good. They don’t really have an inside presence but Aldridge is almost like throwing it to a big center inside who plays on the block. He’s as consistent with his contested jump shots as the big guys are scoring in the paint.”

After a first half in which the Blazers made just 32.6 percent of their shots, Aldridge immediately hit a 20-footer and the Portland offense took off. Yet, for every Portland run, the Rockets had an answer.

The Blazers went up by 10 in the third quarter, but the Rockets rallied with James Harden and Howard attacking the paint, scoring 18 points between them to send the game to the fourth quarter tied.

When the fourth quarter began, however, Howard and Harden were on the bench. With Omer Asik, who had an outstanding defensive game on Aldridge last month, out, the Rockets used Terrence Jones as a backup center. And with Damian Lillard back in to start the fourth quarter, the Rockets sat Harden to get Pat Beverley back in on Lillard.

Beverley kept Lillard in check, with the second-year Blazers guard making just 1 of 10 shots. But the lineup seemed to backfire when the Blazers began the fourth quarter hitting their 3s and the Rockets could only get tough, contested 3-pointers that they missed.

The Blazers rebuilt their 10-pont lead with Harden and Howard each sitting just 90 seconds. The Rockets rallied again, this time to within two with the ball. But while the Rockets kept pace by making tough shots and finishing drives, the Blazers were getting the kind of open looks and Aldridge turnaround jumpers that had fueled them through the second half.

“We got to slow them down,” said Harden, who scored 25 points with seven assists. “We can’t try to get into offensive battles with teams. We have to get stops. That will fuel our offense. They’re one of the top offensive teams as well. They’re going to score if they keep going at you. They have so many options. We got to slow them down.”

When the Rockets couldn’t – and could not make the 3-pointers they would have needed to keep pace – the Blazers finally put them away.

With the Rockets down two with four minutes left, the Blazers went on an 11-1 run. Wesley Matthews hit a deep jumper before Nicolas Batum nailed a 3-pointer. Consecutive three-point plays by Aldridge and Matthews pushed the Blazers lead to 12 and the Rockets were out of comebacks.

Aldridge had gone from a 1 of 8 start to make 11 of 14 shots the rest of the way. The Rockets tried Jones down the stretch, and Aldridge took the shots you would normally want, but the shots that have keyed his season and his best game.

“You have to pick your poison with this team,” Sampson said. “They’re a really good hockey-assist team. They keep that thing and spin it, and we were a little bit worried about the 3. We probably should have had Dwight on him a little bit more but (Jones), I thought, did a pretty good job making him take hard shots.”

Aldridge made those shots, as he had in the first half. By the second half, he started making the easy ones, too, until the NBA’s best offensive team so far this season rolled again.

“It’s a blessing, you know?” Aldridge said. “I’m just blessed and I thought tonight it was needed and I just felt good going down the stretch and I’m trying to do anything to win games right now.

“I started slow, and I was just rebounding because I couldn’t make a shot, and I ended up finding my rhythm in the third as we always do on this team, and I just kept going from there.”